Published: Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 8:14 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 8:18 p.m.

WASHINGTON Millions of people could lose health insurance subsidies in the coming months if the Supreme Court sides with opponents of President Barack Obamas health care overhaul.

And one thing was clear this weekend as the nations governors gathered in Washington: Many of the states that could be affected are not prepared for the potential fallout.

In rounds of interviews at the National Governors Associations winter meeting, several governors indicated they could do little about the estimated 8 million people who could drop coverage if they were to lose health insurance subsidies later this year a scenario that legal experts suggest is a real possibility. While preliminary state-level discussions have begun in some cases, many governors charged that Congress should bear the burden of fixing any problems.

That responsibility doesnt fall in the hands of the states or the governors, it falls in the hands of the leaders right here in Washington, said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is contemplating a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Hes one of the many Republican leaders who resisted efforts to create a state-based health insurance exchange.

Indeed, while the Supreme Court deemed the health care overhaul constitutional more than two years ago, the Affordable Care Act still sits on shifting political sands.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments March 4 on whether the health care law allows the federal government to pay subsidies in states that declined to set up their own insurance markets, or exchanges. For many Americans, the subsidies make the insurance affordable. More than 30 states largely those led by Republicans declined to set up state-based systems and have exchanges run by the federal government instead.

We declined to operate a state exchange along with a majority of other states, said Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican who is also weighing a 2016 White House run and supports the repeal of the health care law. Right now were just evaluating what our options are depending on what the Supreme Court decides.

Coverage losses would be concentrated largely in Republican-led states across the South and Midwest that have resisted the law, among them Florida, Maine, North Carolina, Michigan, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey.

Residents of states that are running their own markets, including California and New York, would continue to receive benefits.

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Governors: No clear plan if health care subsidies dropped